Skipping Stones
by Kaito The Shadow Wrya
Summary: Death? Its not as bad as people think it is, actually. Reincarnation? Worse than you could have even imagined, and don't count on it getting any better. Self-Insert OC
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I should be finishing my other self insert story, why the hell am I writing another one? Well, I have over 60 different ideas and takes on self-inserts and I just need to _write them all. _I'm going to make this one as entertaining as I possibly can, even if, like, 7 people are going to read it.**

* * *

_Whack. _

That was the sound my body made when I got hit by that speeding truck.

_Slam._

That was the sound of my corpse hitting the concrete.

_Fss._

That was the sound of the truck stopping, although it was already too late. My body was sprawled roughly twelve feet from the vehicle, most of my bones broken and blood dripping from various wounds.

_Step step step._

That was the sound of a frantic driver jumping out of his car and running towards my body. I vaguely remember him whipping out his phone and furiously pressing buttons.

I don't remember what he said, but that didn't matter. I was dying now and I just knew that no amount of medical treatment could save me.

_Whir whir whir._

That was the sound of an ambulance. I heard steps and car doors slamming. I saw a man looming over me. But everything was fading fast. I tried to keep my grasp on everything, but it was just slipping out of my hands.

My sight was dimming, the pain was fading, and over all of that I just felt tired. Like I hadn't slept in a long time. Death was beckoning; calling for me to come join it.

The very last thought as a person, as _me, _was my sentence. It was the words that bound me to my fate, even when the end was near, the beginning was approaching.

_I don't want to die._

* * *

At first, everything was so cold, like I was wrapped in a thick layer of ice.

And then I was warm. It felt like someone had flicked on a light switch, and suddenly I could _feel. _My senses had returned.

Wait, what?

The thought of being able to feel again was confusing. Because senses usually meant living, and I wasn't living. I distinctly remember dying.

Confusion clouded my mind, but I noticed that my body felt... smaller. It felt like I was the size of a cat. Either that or my body was way bulkier than I remembered. I twisted my weak limbs and kicked out my shockingly short legs.

I was definitely smaller than I used to be.

It was frightening. The only thing that wasn't was the constant thumping noise.

It was... soothing. I don't doubt that it was the only thing that kept me sane in this wet prison. Its consistent _thump thump thump _had lead me to a blissful sleep on more occasions than one.

I had also heard voices. Muffled, but voices. Some were high and some were low. The loudest was of a woman.

Every time I kicked the walls of the prison, a voice would speak. Sometimes it was the woman, sometimes it was a stranger, or sometimes it was this small child-like voice that I hear often. It was a sweet, young voice. It was always glimmering happily, or as happy as an ominous muffled voice could get. I loved the company of that voice just as much as I loved the company of the thumping.

I was content. I was at peace. I felt... safe.

Until now, that is.

I felt pure agony as I twisted and moved through a narrow passage, away from my warm prison. Suddenly each of my senses were attacked. I felt a bright light piercing my eye balls and excruciatingly loud sounds filling my ears. The sounds were muffled and my sight was blurry as cold air latched onto my damp, small, bulky body.

Large _things _held me and cleaned me. They wiped every bit of the wet stuff off of me, removing every bit of the warm prison from existance. I wailed and wailed as I did this. My vocal chords worked again, but this voice... it was high and piercing and_ not mine. _I wailed more and more.

Something warm and soft wrapped around me, not restricting my arms completely but still keeping me warm. The giants handed me off to another giants trembling arms. My wailing abruptly stopped when I heard her voice.

It was _her._

The woman from the prison. Her voice was gentle and soft, and made me feel at peace once again. I tried to open my eyes, but the ungodly bright light attacked my cornea. I shut them immediately.

The woman spoke some words before I was taken from her arms and placed in a small, lonely bed. I wanted to be with her... she was safe. After wailing and screaming once again, I fell into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

I stayed for a while in the strange, new place. I don't know how long, but it wasn't five minutes, that's for sure. Most of my time was spent sleeping blissfully or drinking this strange concoction that didn't have much of a taste. It vaguely reminded me of milk.

It wasn't until just days after I had left the prison that my mind had finally allowed me to think about the situation.

Where was I, and more importantly, what was I? Everything was different from what it used to be. After I died, I turned into a small person surrounded by giants. This set off warning bells.

I died, that I know for sure. One doesn't just die and forget. But why am I here then? Is this heaven? Hell? Purgatory? Anywhere?

For all I knew, I was in a hospital back at home with a massive coma, but I was so sure I had died... things just didn't add up.

Suddenly everything just clicked in place. Like the pieces of a puzzle getting put together again after a long time of getting put in sideways. At that moment I just knew. I _knew._

Reincarnation.

That was where my train of thought collapsed. My baby brain shut down and I immediately fell asleep.

When I woke up again I was being cradled in the arms of a stranger. The light was dim enough to open my eyes, and when I did all I saw were fuzzy blops of color. A man, with purple hair and blue eyes was holding me. His hair looked _weird. _I couldn't wrap my mind around someone with _purple _hair, and to top it off it was styled to defy gravity. It was sticking up in all directions, resembling a flower or a star.

I felt like he was smiling. I smiled back, or tried to. It probably looked gummy and half-done. I felt his chest rumble with laughter.

Then I heard another voice. It was the woman. I wanted to look at her, but my baby-body didn't want to function. I gave up after a while. Then I heard it.

The little girls voice. It was close, not as muffled as before, but close. The man said something before he set me down on a mattress next to a one year old.

She looked at me with innocent, curious green eyes, alight with a certain spark that my eyes would never be able to produce again. Her eyes weren't the only colorful part on her. She had short pink hair that fell around her ears. She gave me a toothy grin and I half-smiled back.

She was my angel. I loved her the moment I laid eyes on her.

The man spoke again before I was laid to rest in my crib.

* * *

**A/N: This is the beginning, so this chapter will be shorter than the rest. This wasn't my best but its not my worst.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I'm glad this story is liked! My first chapter didn't have much effort put into it, but I'll do my best to make this one better and longer.**

* * *

My new life was... uninteresting, so to say. Babies generally didn't have much to do, and thinking was out of the question, since my new baby brain couldn't handle the thoughts of an adult. I could still feel emotions as if I _was _my old self, though. I was sad or afraid most of the time and I just couldn't figure out why, so I cried. A lot.

Whenever I did, though, mama would hold me and do that bouncy... thing... to try and calm me down. News flash, that bouncy thing? Yeah, feels like a never ending earthquake.

Let it be said that mama never got any sleep. Ever.

Overtime, my ears and eyes have developed, and when I could hear clearly, the first thing I noticed is that _everyone_ is speaking Japanese. My train of thought ended right after I was like _'So I was reborn in Japan? Cool.' _and I cried in frustration. Mama had to rock me for twelve full minutes before I fell silent.

When I regained my composure, I thought, why would I be reborn in Japan? They didn't _look _Japanese in the slightest. Mama, or I guess 'Okaa-san', had honey colored hair and bright green eyes, which if my brain is correct, aren't common traits in Japanese people. And look at my dad and sister. _Purple _and_ pink _hair. Hell, they looked straight out of a cartoon.

I didn't know what the hell I looked like, but I hoped I got Mama's hair. While it was short and out of grabbing distance almost always, I've got my hands on it enough times to know that it was the best option. Well, besides curly hair, but that obviously wasn't in my new immediate families genetics.

By six months into my new-life's childhood, I could crawl, sit up, and understand basic Japanese. Oh, I also knew my new name, which is either Yuri or Sayuri. Something to do with flowers. Its confusing because Mama calls me 'Yuri-chan' and dad calls me 'Sayuri-chan' and my sister calls me 'Yu-yu'. My best guess is that Yuri is short for Sayuri, and my sister just likes to be adorable.

Which, Oh. My. God.

She is so fucking cute.

Excuse my vulgar language, but she is just a bag of adorableness, with her chubby cheeks and her wide eyes, she looks like a kitten strapped to a puppy taped to a seal attached to a teddy bear. She is just _so damn cute! _

I wanted her complete attention most of the time when I was awake. Almost as much as I wanted Mama's attention. I would make block towers with her and play peek-a-boo, and I would throw a fit if she was napping when I wasn't. I wanted sissy and I wanted her _now! _

Its really childish, I know. Sometimes my thoughts catches up with me and I cringe at my behavior. Sometimes I just didn't feel like myself. I felt like a baby, not me, and it scared me. I couldn't wait for a fully developed brain so I could think again, and feel like an adult, not a baby.

My first sign that my new life wasn't all its cracked up to be was the shiny metal headband that my dad wore around his forehead whenever he went to work. Huh, that looks funny. I think there is a symbol on it every time I see it, but dad doesn't stay long enough or get close enough for me to see what it looks like.

My second sign was a bit more unnerving. I saw Mama in her room sharpening some weird knives on her bed. They looked really funny. How could you cut vegetables with that? Must be decorative.

My last sign was the worst. It completely obliterated my rose-colored view of this new life, and made me realize exactly what kind of hole I'd dug myself into. Mama had caught my sister trying to crawl up on the counter to get some cookies, and yelled at her in her full name. That was when the dam broke.

_Sakura Haruno_

I broke into a crying fit as images, names, birth dates and events flooded through my mind. I bawled and bawled as Mama tried to calm me and make me feel better. I eventually cried myself to sleep on her lap, deathly afraid of the past, present and future.

* * *

I felt guilty for not saying my first word in my six months of existance in this world. I knew words, and I knew my parents expected me to say words a while ago, but I remained mute despite this. Finally having enough, I slip off the couch and crawl over to Mama, who is sitting in the dining room, writing out taxes and various other things. Her reading glasses are perched at the end of her nose as she furiously writes things and clicks on the buttons on her calculator.

Sakura is sleeping in our room, having been tired out from all of the squealing and playing we were taking part of this morning. Sakura had attempted to get in the cookie jar _again _while I distracted Mama. It worked well, until Mama saw her bright pink hair bobbing around on the counter. Without her to occupy my adult brain, I have to do something, _anything _to have some form of entertainment.

I try to crawl up on the chair next to Mama. I pout when I have trouble standing up on my legs.

Stupid baby body.

Mama flicks her gaze on me and picks me up by my under arms and sits me on her lap. She absentmindedly pats my hair as she writes down more gibberish words in Japanese on a slip of paper before moving off to the next one.

"Hm, taxes are a pain, eh Yuri-chan?" she chuckles softly before writing out some other thing. I watch in awe at how neat her handwriting is, and how even when she is exhausted, she can make her hands work so effortlessly, so gracefully. I nearly forget why I am here, but I remember just before the thought slips from my mind.

"Oh-ka-san." I sound out the words on my incredibly high-pitched baby vocal chords. I soon find myself being hugged tightly and swung around by Mama.

"Ohoo, I knew you were a Mama's girl!" She squeals with delight. She kisses my forehead multiple times.

I have a feeling shes in a good mood.

* * *

"Don't you just look like the cutest thing?" She pinches my cheek as I look curiously at my reflection. This is the first time I had seen myself in the mirror before. Surprisingly, I got none of my parents hair colors. I had my dads eyes though, cerulean blue.

My hand reaches up to my mushroom-cap white hair and I tug on it. It feels real, but it doesn't _look_ real. Only old people have white hair, and this isn't even snow white! It's mushroom white! I tug softly on it again, expecting it to fall off and it to have been a wig this whole time.

When I looked at the rest of the dress, I pouted. I look like some sort of frou-frou dolly. Ugh. First grandma hair, and now this.

Mama smiles and places me on the floor next to Sakura, who is playing with a coloring book. She gives me a toothy smile and exclaims:

"Yu-yu!"

I give a smile back and grab a crayon. Sadly my motor skills are really bad as a baby, so I end up coloring anywhere but inside the lines. At least Sakura had the same problem, so we could be crappy at coloring together.

I giggled childishly as I looked over the page we had colored together. Red was colored over every other color, since Sakura was using the red crayon religiously, and my rainbow crayon mess was barely peeking out from beneath it.

We color and play for the rest of the day, me still in my frilly gown. Mama has to wash it at the end of the day.

* * *

I clung for dear life onto the couch as I shuffled my feet clumsily on the ground, desperate to be able to walk. I'm 9 months and _god-fucking-damn-it I want to be able to walk. _Walking at my age is still early, but I've had to resort to crawling for far to long. Its time to walk, baby, and I'll be damned if I don't start walking as soon as I am physically able.

My small fingers grip the coffee table as I pass over from the couch. Mama was hanging over me like a hawk, there to catch me if I fell flat on my ass. Or my face, but it really depends which way my body is leaning. I stumble a bit and Mama steadies me before I shuffle to the next bit of furniture; the dinning room table.

I hang onto the leg of the chair and pass carefully onto the next.

Surprisingly, my knowledge of motor skills from my past life did not pass on into this life. I was a bit miffed when I found this out, but walking can't be too hard right?

Right.

I release a loud yawn as I rub my eyes. Mama immediately picks me up and places me in my crib.

"You're tired Yuri-chan, we can walk more later." She insists as the pulls a blanket over me. I reach out of a teddy bear at the corner of the bed and Mama releases a rough chuckle before placing it within grabbing reach of me. I grab hold of it immediately and hug it tightly to my chest.

I hear mama leave before I fall asleep.

* * *

"Happy birthday Yuri-chan!" My Mama shouted as she brought me down stairs from my nap. I rubbed my eyes and looked around at my relatives. They seemed kind, or as kind as one can be. I gave a smile, revealing my six teeth, and yelled a squeaky hello.

Sakura and I were pulled into the back yard to play with two of our cousins. They were twin boys, both a year older than Sakura, which made them about three, named Hotaka and Hokuto. They were rowdy and hyper, which did not clash with me very well. Especially since I just woke up from my nap and I was still quite tired. Sakura just thought 'fuck it' and tried and failed to run faster than them in their game of chase.

I just sat on the sidelines in Mama's lap and watched as she made idle chit-chat with the other adults. I couldn't, for the life of me, fully understand their conversation, but I was content to just watch the three older children play until present time.

"So after I wrote down the location, Yuri-chan came up and said 'Okaa-san'. It made me so happy to know that she's a mama's girl." Mama hugged me tighter into her chest as she spoke with my aunt. I understood what she had said, mostly, and it made me feel happy that I had pleased Mama.

If Mama was happy, I was happy.

After Sakura tripped and her her knee, she cried for a bit until Mama said it was present time. Sakura immediately brightened and dashed into the house.

Did I mention this was a joint party between me and Sakura?

Hm. Sorry.

Our birthdays are rather close, Sakura's being on March 28th and mine on April 7th, so it wasn't exactly a stupid idea. I liked sharing with Sakura, and I think she liked sharing with me.

Mama hoisted me off the chair and brought me into the living room. She sat be down on the couch next to Sakura and one by one placed gifts on our lap for us to open. Sakura's first present was a story book about ninja saving a princess from an evil nukenin. I got a stuffed cat with a hollow circle marking on his forehead. I named him Kyo.

Sakura's second present was a joint gift between Mama and Papa. It was a purple unicorn stuffed toy. I got two shirts.

This continued for a while, since we had a shitload of relatives. I've noticed that my shirts, stuffed animals, and other presents I got sometimes have that hollow circle on them. I vaguely remember it being on the back of Sakura's shirt in the show. Maybe a clan symbol? I never thought of Sakura to be a clan kid, as it wasn't mentioned in the anime that she was. If there was a Haruno clan, then they aren't very important or special because there isn't anything mentioned about them at all.

I would say they were a civilian clan, but come on, _civilian clan? _Firstly, there was no such thing, second, almost everyone in my family is or was a ninja, save for a few aunts or old folk. I didn't think they were a clan, but they might just be a smaller one. Hm, maybe.

Sakura and I open our last present together. I don't know who they're from, but I'll ask Mama once I open it. I pull it open to find something shiny and sharp inside, and I think Sakura got the same thing.

Mama immediately grabs the two boxes and keeps them out of reach, and puts them on the table next to Papa. She then glares at an old, formal looking man sitting on a chair across the room. He has a long beard that reminds me of a certain wizard from a story in my past life.

"Tou-san, I would appreciate it if you didn't give my toddlers kunai for their birthday." She says through gritted teeth, frowning in distaste. The man, apparently my grandfather, just grunts disapprovingly.

"Its never too early to start ninja training, Mebuki. They will need those if they are to become good, strong kunoichi." he responds coldly, not making eye contact with Mama, but with Sakura and I. I shrink under his piercing gaze, which makes me idly wonder if he knows I'm a reincarnation.

"They will not start until they are of age." She replies curtly before returning her gaze to us girls. Her frown flips upside down as she cheerily asks, "Now, do you girls want some sweets before we say goodbye to our guests?" I nod carefully, and Sakura immediately brightens and runs out to the kitchen, already set for some treats. Mama chuckles and sits me in my elevated baby seat at the table. She returns with Sakura at her side and two plates of treats we can eat.

There wasn't any cupcakes or other 'old world' treats like I had hoped, but I'll be damned if Mama didn't make a mean imagawayaki.

* * *

**A/N: Finished. I kind of view the Haruno clan to be mellow, except for that one asshat that thinks they're some sort of epic clan when _they are not. _Also, Imagawayaki is a Japanese pastry. Look it up.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I'm so happy with the positive feedback I'm receiving. Thanks for supporting me guys, it means a lot.  
**

* * *

I sat on Papa's lap, squinting at the letters on a book that I feebly held lopsidedly with my toddler fingers. Kanji, Katakana, and Hiragana were the three forms of Japanese calligraphy I knew of from my past life. I didn't take lessons or classes in them, but I knew they existed. Now I wished I had learned at least one of them, because being unable to do something as simple as read a passage from a story book was awful.

Papa plucked the book from my grasp and re-positioned it on his lap so it was right in front of me. My brows crinkled in frustration as I stared at the gibberish symbols. Papa's chest vibrated as he chuckled.

"Mebuki, I think she's trying to read." he inquired playfully as Mama picked up the basket of dirty clothes from Sakura and my's room. She gave my papa a curious look. "Oh? Is that so? My, my, Yuri-chan sure is eager to learn." A sly smile played on her lips. "Why don't you teach her to read for the rest of the day? It would be good bonding time while Sakura is taking a nap."

Papa sputtered indignantly. "But Mebuki, this is my only day off-"

"-and you should spend it with your youngest daughter." She sniffed, carrying the over-flowing basket into the other room. Papa sighed in defeat before smiling brightly and picking up the book.

"Alright Yuri-chan, let's learn how to read."

* * *

At age three, I had noticed a change in Sakura. One that I had nearly forgot about, in fact. Day by day she grew shyer around strangers. Her drop in self confidence wouldn't rear its ugly head until she started going to school.

Mama would definitely send us to ninja school when the time came. There is no way around it, since Mama used to be an ninja and Papa is still one, and we would by default be sent there to be trained into ninjas. Sakura was rather enthusiastic about it, since being a ninja was apart of her culture. I, however, remained quiet.

No, I did not want to be a ninja. Surprising? Probably not.

In my past life, I had read the infamous self inserts. Although in each one, the SI would ultimately be a ninja, either due to clan duties or something else. Never a civilian, no, never. I always thought 'well that's for plot convenience.' but now that I am here... in this world, living this life, I know that being a ninja is by far the worse option.

I know that leaves me defenseless, unprotected and bland, but I got a second chance at life. I got a new way, a new purpose, and I'll be damned if I throw that away, all because I'm a ninja. Ninja die so fast, so quick. That's why children graduate at age 11 or 12 and become ninjas. Peace time or not, Ninja's lead fast paces fleeting lives. Its a miracle if one lives past thirty-five. I've never been like that... no, I've always been the kind of person to treasure life. I don't want to have to take something so precious from anybody, and I don't want to lose mine.

Sure, ninjas can do cool tricks, they are awesome, they are strong and fast and smart, but I don't want that.

But despite all of that, I can't bring myself to even admit this to Mama or Papa. I'm much to afraid of their disappointment... would they hate me for not following in their foot steps?

The pressure from society and my 'clan' is no better. My grandfather, Hiroki, is obsessed with the prospect of making this clan great. He wants the Haruno clan to be known throughout the world as one of the best, all the way up there with the Uchiha. He will never let us forget that we have a duty to uphold.

With Konoha being a military villiage, even with civillians, the air that being a ninja is a superior choice is thicker than smoke. Retired Shinobi are usually the ones that give speeches about how the ninja life is oh so great, and that everyone should all be one. Civilians respect the Shinobi, depend on the Shinobi, worship the Shinobi... They do it to the point that most civilians never do anything great. They leave all of that to the Shinobi now.

We are all told that the only way we can possibly be great is if we are Shinobi. We can only be worth something if we fight for the village, but a village is just a military camp if there aren't any civilians.

Even then, what use are we if we don't fight? The only two important types of civilians are merchants and chefs, everyone else can go F off unless you are Shinobi, because Konoha won't respect you. The civilians will befriend you, smile with you, be kind, but you aren't as precious as the Shinobi.

I have learned all of this by observing the interactions of people in Konoha. A single word of what I had said hasn't even been uttered, but nobody needed to say a single thing. Its like the nine tailed fox secret. It is only spoken of behind closed doors and locked windows, but the villagers reactions to the kyuubi container, Naruto, show us all we need to know. Their distaste for him is obvious, and even my own parents are incredibly wary of him. I remember when Mama and Papa gave us the 'stay away from him' talk.

"Now Sakura, Yuri..." Mama started, taking a seat on the couch. She wore blue that day- a light baby blue. Now that I look back, she always wears baby blue when she's about to say something serious to us. A habit, maybe? Or a warning.

"Yes, Okaa-san?" Sakura bounced up to Mama, me in tow, and plopped right next to her on the couch. I sat on the other side of Sakura.\

"I've noticed that yesterday you tried to play with the little blond boy at the park. What's his name?" Mama's playing innocent- I can tell. Her smile doesn't quite reach her eyes. Sakura nods.

"Yeah, but he didn't want to play." She said. Mama turned to me.

"Did you try to play with him too, Yuri-chan?" She asks.

"Yeah." I answer nervously, staring at Mama. My heart leaps to my throat. Oh god, what do I do?

"You girls should stay away from that boy." She said. "He's dangerous."

I desperately want to attack her with questions. To test her. Ask her 'why?' until she can't take it anymore. I want to see my limits, and to see hers, but instead I pinch my lips together and nod obediently.

She sends us off after that, and we avoid Naruto from then on, although I'd say he was the one who did the most avoiding. He didn't play with the other kids often, but I'll be damned if he didn't talk. Naruto would start talking and get into fights with other kids a lot, sometimes he'd win if it was a civilian kid, and he'd definitely lose if it was a clan kid like Kiba.

To say it was amusing would be an understatement.

* * *

At around the age of five, almost six, Sakura was sent off to her first day at the ninja academy.

By the end of the day, when she had returned home, she smiled brightly at Mama and told her that the first day was awesome and she had tons of friends.

Later at night, she had pulled me from bed and told me that it was awful there. Everyone made fun of her, calling her mean names like 'forehead'. She told me the worst was Ami, a girl from her class, who would make fun of her and call her names, and would have everyone else laughing with her.

She made me swear not to tell Mama, and I did, because I knew that Ino would save my sister from the tormenting.

A week later, Sakura asked mama if she could get her bangs cut across the forehead- like mine. Mama was skeptical at first, but agreed and chopped Sakura's bangs shorter.

But the tormenting didn't stop, because whenever we would walk Sakura to school, she would either try and get there early, before Ami, or later than Ami.

After almost two months, finally, Sakura had come home with a bright red bow on her head and a giant smile on her face. She told me and Mama about Ino. About how pretty she is, about how smart she is, about how nice and awesome she is. I was so thankful that Ino came and made my sister happy, when I couldn't do it, and when I see her I will definitely thank her.

I knew Sakura and Ino would eventually break apart when Sasuke wedged himself between them, but I could bear with it, because for now she was happy, and so was I.

* * *

Time passed quickly and before I knew it Mama was about to ship me off to Ninja school. I felt wronged- she hadn't even bothered to ask me what _I_ wanted. She just assumed that because Sakura wanted to be a ninja, that I did too.

I had a week until school started; one week to tell Mama that I wanted to take the civilian path. If I didn't tell her before hand, I'd be stuck in Ninja school until the end of the year, and it's not like I'll be able to just switch over to the civilian school until the end of the year. If I'm correct, they don't take last minute students.

I stalked around the house until I found Mama, who was sitting on the sofa reading one of her novels. I stood in the doorway for about three page flips before I shakily crawled up on the sofa next to her.

"Mama." I said, attempting to catch her attention. There was silence for a moment before she put her bookmark between the pages and put her book on the table next to her.

"What is it, Yuri-chan?" I gulped. Breathe, Yuri, Breathe.

"Do I have to be a ninja?" Okay, lets start out with a question.

Mama was silent for a second or two. "No, you don't. Do you not want to be a ninja?" She asked me.

"...No." I felt a huge weight being lifted off my chest. Glad I got that out. "I want to be an inventor, or maybe a book writer." That was true. In my old life writing was a hobby of mine. I wrote poems and short stories from time to time. I was also aiming to get a job as a mechanic, or someone who fixed peoples cars or vehicles. I knew how to change tires, batteries, and headlights. I could tweak them if certain parts broke. I couldn't assemble one from scratch, but if Mama gave me a chance, I could maybe try and build myself a bike.

"Really? You haven't shown any interest in these before..." She muttered to herself. "I can pull you out of school, Yuri, but you can't attend regular school until next year."

"A tutor, maybe?" Papa inquired as he entered the room. I jumped in surprise at his entrance.

"Kizashi, where would we find one? They're awfully expensive, you know." She said. "And how are we going to explain this to Hiroki? You know how stubborn and cranky he can be." Papa rubbed his chin and squinted his eyes.

"Well, we could always dip in for a tutor, just this one year. And let me talk to your father." He said. "That man can be more stubborn than a goat."

Mama looked wary, but in the end she and Papa came to an agreement. I knew they would be talking more in the future. I wasn't quite out of deep water yet, but I knew this was a big step for me.

I didn't have to be a ninja.

Woohoo!

* * *

**A/N: Yes, she will be a civilian. I have great things for her in the future, though.**


End file.
